Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen knows exactly what the city’s historic centre should look like in ten years from now: “The first thing you’ll see coming from Central Station is a beautiful, historic city and straight away you are on an exciting walk past the chic and the shabby.”

The council’s finance chief Lodewijk Asscher adds his vision: a walk through Amsterdam's China Town and the city’s old ramparts, followed by a cappuccino next to the city's oldest church, the 13th century Oude Kerk. This is the area better known as Amsterdam’s famous red light district.

At present the Damrak is a seedy collection of cheap restaurants and gaudy neon signs. And while the Oudekerksplein has plenty of brothel windows, there is nowhere to get a cup of decent coffee.

So in order to make Cohen and Asscher's dreams a reality, the city council is taking action. The title of its ambitious ten-year renovation plan for this area is Project 1012. This is the postcode for city centre with its network of narrow streets and alleys, medieval houses and canals stretching to the Dam square and the shopping streets Rokin and Kalverstraat.

The area is the very heart of Amsterdam, a position that was again stressed last week when the government nominated the city centre’s 17th century canals for inclusion in the United Nations World Heritage list.

Money laundering

The city council has had enough of the brothels, shops selling drugs paraphernalia, gambling halls and souvenir shops that clog up the area. It feels the district has fallen prey to organised criminals dealing in the trafficking of drugs and women and suspect that many of the establishments are a front for money laundering.

It is not the first time Amsterdam has tackled the criminal fraternity of the red light district. In 2003, a new law gave councils the authority to investigate whether entrepreneurs requesting business permits had criminal connections. Since then, a number of permits have been revoked while brothel-owners have been bought out by the council.

“We will continue to be tough in tackling criminality,” Cohen says. The number of prostitutes’ windows will be halved to around 250 and will be concentrated in two streets. The same goes for the coffee shops where cannabis is sold. Their number will also be halved to 38.

The plan also calls for the closure of shops offering cheap phone calls, souvenirs and other small-scale businesses related to the sex industry but this will be on a voluntary basis.

Creative sector

The city council’s plan conjures up images of giant department stores such as Lafayette or Harrods along the Rokin and small craft workshops and galleries around the Oude Kerk. The emphasis will be firmly on the creative industry and culture. This imaginary Amsterdam is largely based on an expectation that the city’s economy, which makes up 12 percent of the Netherlands’ national income, will continue to develop.

Amsterdam city council has allocated between 40 and 50 million euros for the renovation plan over the coming ten years. This money will go towards redesigning city centre streets, among other things. However a complete transformation of the area, including underground car parks to luxury hotels, will cost many times more than this and that financing will have to come from housing corporations, project developers, banks and shops.

Private parties have already shown interest, says Asscher. “The phone is ringing all the time. I have already been approached by a few up-market retail chains. And recently I had a call from a snack-bar owner who wants to open something a bit more upmarket. He realises that he can make more money that way.”

All these initiatives and plans are fine with Cohen. “We will handle the criminals, businesses and people living in the area will have to do the rest,” says the mayor.